Onward and upward in 2021
While the pandemic has continued to throw curveballs, 2021 has been another successful year for ASI.
18 December 2021
Our mission of responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium has driven our collective work, and brought together a growing group of global stakeholders to participate in the work ahead.
In August this year, we hit the milestone of 150 ASI Certifications issued. During 2021, the total number of audit reports submitted for ASI Oversight, including initial certifications, surveillance, scope change and re-certifications, has grown by 50% on 2020 levels to 117 at 13 December. This represents a huge effort by members, auditors, participating stakeholders and the ASI Secretariat to build a broad-based assurance approach for the global aluminium value chain.
In November, we celebrated 200 ASI members across our 6 membership classes – Production and Transformation, Civil Society, Industrial Users, Downstream Supporters, Associations and General Supporters. We are delighted to still be welcoming new members across all membership classes and a diverse range of locations, with more than 60 member applications in 2021.
To manage our growing program, we have expanded our team to 21 wonderful colleagues working remotely from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. We have invested in team culture and development efforts this year, to help onboard new team members, share knowledge and ideas, and build the collaborative framework that is needed for our collective work.
The ASI Standards Revision has continued to be a major focus this year. The first public consultation on the Draft Revisions was held in March-April 2021, supported by significant consensus-building efforts through ASI’s standards governance during the year. In January 2022, the second consultation period will take place, providing all interested stakeholders with a final feedback opportunity. We are looking forward to drawing this lengthy and substantive process to a close and launching the new versions in May 2022 for implementation.
While in-person meetings are still largely on hold due to Covid, we’ve nevertheless stayed very busy engaging with our stakeholders online for our AGM with members, as well as regular Board, Standards Committee, Working Group and Indigenous People Advisory Forum (IPAF) meetings. We’ve participated in a wide variety of online conferences and events and sincerely thank partners and organisers for those opportunities.
We have continued to develop our online assurance platform, elementAl, and our online training platform, educationAl. In August, we published a training module on exercising risk-based due diligence in the aluminium value chain, in accordance with the OECD Guidance, and this month we have released a new module on globalisation of the Guinean bauxite mining industry. In October, we launched a ‘Public Dashboard’ in our elementAl database to increase stakeholder access to Certification data, as well as aggregated metrics.
In 2021, we introduced our monthly ‘Insights’ series in the newsletter, to share data and analyses on key indicators for progress. We have published three independent outcome evaluations – on GHG emissions reporting, implementation of biodiversity assessment and management, and implementation of key governance and social criteria. We have also continued to work on general partnerships and harmonisation activities with a range of organisations. We welcome interest from all stakeholders to engage further with us in 2022.
Fiona Solomon, ASI CEO, says “ASI is entering a new phase of maturity and opportunity following successful strategy focus and delivery during 2015-2021. The sustainable development challenges for aluminium are wide-ranging, and include climate change mitigation and adaptation within a below 1.5C scenario, circularity and material stewardship, nature-positive action and capacity building and respect for human rights. We believe that with ASI’s growth to date, and the scope to continue to scale in future, we are creating a foundation for sectoral transformation. With our 2030 ambitions, we will continue to work to drive positive change with a range of stakeholders.”
Anita Roper, ASI Board Chair, says “ASI can play a leadership role in placing the aluminium sector at the forefront of the climate change and sustainability debate. During 2021 the Board worked closely with the CEO to map out what we need to do to meet the challenges facing the aluminium value chain, to position us for the future. We undertook a deep dive and identified the horizon challenges we will be facing as a sector. To drive positive change and transformation the Board approved a 2030 Strategy outlining our sustainability priorities and adding two new Strategic Pillars of ‘Driving Change’ and ‘Beyond Certification’ (see 1-page version below). Working together and developing partnerships with all those involved in our sector will be essential to us shaping the debate and contributing to solutions.”
On behalf of the ASI Board and team, we wish all of our members and stakeholders an enjoyable holiday season and a happy and healthy new year in 2022.
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